The present invention pertains to telecommunication services and more particularly to subscriber and network initiated feature transfers in a telecommunication system.
Telecommunication networks provide a vast array of features. For example, subscribers may have call waiting, call forwarding, link security and closed user group accesses among the many features available. Various network users will have different user profiles that are lists of these features which the users are entitled to use. Existing networks do not provide the ability for a user to request features to be authorized for another user. These networks allow users to request features on a temporary basis only for themselves. Existing networks do not allow a set of users from various networks to harmonize the set of features for conducting a communication session or for a particular time period.
Further, another network feature provided is interception of calls. A call interception is made by activating intercept functions on a targeted call session agent (originating or terminating party), and redirecting control and bearer information to a law enforcement agency. Typically, once the redirected call ends, interception activation of the originating call agent is removed. Networks are required by law to provide call interception on all calls forwarded by a targeted party. Existing networks perform the call forwarding in a proxy-like fashion. That is, the forwarding call agent remains in the redirected call even though the targeted forward party is not on the call. The use of redirect in today's multimedia 3G market prevents call intercept by the existing intercept method.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a telecommunication network in which user initiated and network initiated feature transfer or feature purchase for other users may be made. In addition, it is highly desirable to provide a call intercept arrangement that may intercept forwarded calls via a redirect mechanism.